Facebook's Top 15 Most-Shared Stories Of 2011

Facebook has released a list of the 40 news stories that users shared most during 2011.

Some of the most popular stories shared by Facebook's 800 million-strong-and-growing population covered such diverse topics as zodiac symbols, touching videos, Steve Jobs, animals, natural disasters and more. According to the Telegraph, the top story (see slideshow) was shared more than 600,000 times.

Lost Remote notes that all 40 stories have several things in common. "Nearly all feature a short, grabby headline that explains the story well," wrote Lost remote. "All stories are [also] from major news organizations with good-sized FB pages (reach matters)."

Indeed, stories on Facebook's list came from either the New York TImes, CNN, Yahoo, The Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal or Washington Post. CNN alone served up 10 of the links and Yahoo boasted 12.

In September, Facebook unveiled a "new class of social apps" aimed at making content discovery easier than ever before. If the user wishes, new songs he's listening to or an article he's reading via a Facebook app will be posted to the New Ticker, where friends will see this interaction and be able to read the same article or listen to the same song. The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Yahoo News, for example, already take advantage of Facebook's app platform.

Take a look at the top 15 most-shared stories on Facebook in 2011 (below). Visit Facebook to view the entire list of the top 40 most-shared news stories from the past year.

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Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly listed Facebook's membership at 800,000 users. We regret the confusion.

Comments

[janinei]

11:24 PM on 12/15/2011

Father and daughter made me cry, miss my dad. That is love.

[franco90]

12:34 PM on 12/02/2011

The Japanese cameramen had a lot to say about the dog staying with its ailing friend (dog) but didn't do anything to help. Shame on them!

[Thom Davis1]

08:22 PM on 11/30/2011

those twin boys "talking" is just creepy..."Paranormal Activity," the male version comes to mind
;-)

[astuartgirl]

07:21 AM on 12/03/2011

I thought it was cute. My sons were Irish twins and use to do the same thing :-)

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

07:32 PM on 11/30/2011

All but the top three or so barely make it to grocery store tabloid fodder. Is that telling?

[tissa]

06:06 PM on 11/30/2011

As a mother, when I read the Chinese Mother one, I thought it was very abusive to kids. It said things like "Don't allow your kids to choose their own activities" "No playdates", "HAVE to play violin or piano" "practice 3 hours a night" "if they don't get good grades then the school is to blame" OMFG That is a recipe for Psychological destruction. I am wondering why that was popular---either people where shocked at the language or agreed with it. And I hope they didn't like it.

[wandering girl]

07:45 PM on 11/30/2011

did you actually read the book?

[tissa]

08:48 PM on 11/30/2011

It was an article, not a book.

[they-r-us]

04:20 PM on 12/01/2011

Gee, maybe that's why China leads the world in engineering and finance. Psychological destruction is alive and well in America with the coddled ones who have a phobia of feeling even the slightest bit of discomfort emotionally or physically. Spoiling children is child abuse and domestic terrorism.

And America leads the world in what?

[tissa]

06:31 PM on 12/01/2011

Sorry, China doesn't lead the world in engineering, nor does it lead in finance. All China knows how to do is save money--which is not a bad thing.

Everyone studies engineering--especially India and the Middle east.

China's problem is that it cannot lead, or look outside of its borders to interact in anything besides commerce.  That does not make for a leader.

Look, each culture has its ups and downs, but to sit there and write an article that China is superior because it "makes kids practice for 3 hours"  or 'doesn't let kids choose their activities" or have a "playdate" is absolutely RIDICULOUS.

[Guardian Weasel]

05:45 PM on 11/30/2011

I suppose December can f#@% right off, then.

[Sandmanj]

05:26 PM on 11/30/2011

The twin baby boys are adorable - my 7 year old son loves watching it.+

[tissa]

06:07 PM on 11/30/2011

My four year old LOVES that one too.

[NoCalDrummer]

04:24 PM on 11/30/2011

A little early to be posting a "best" or "most popular" list for 2011, since we're not even 11/12 of the way through it, doncha think? Try again in about 30 days.